Career Forum Set for Monday Evening

MORGANTOWN, W.Va. – West Virginia University, in partnership with Career Athletes, will host a Career Forum for Mountaineer student-athletes tomorrow evening at Milan Puskar Stadium’s Touchdown Terrace at 7 p.m.

WVU is one of only 15 institutions nationally to host the forum this academic year, and businesses and organizations from across the nation will come to Morgantown to network and mentor with the University’s student-athletes. Organizations confirmed for Monday evening include: Verizon Wireless, Sherwin-Williams, AFLAC, Northwestern Mutual, PLS Logistics, Geico, TeamGLEAS, Bayer, Enterprise, United Bank, Target, Maxim Healthcare Services, Medix Staffing Solutions and Zimmer.

“I think our student-athletes are excited for the opportunity presented with the Career Forum,” says WVU Associate Athletic Director for Compliance/Governance Keli Cunningham. “We’ve had a number of student-athletes inquire about tomorrow evening, and we’ve had good attendance at our workshops. I think they’re excited and thankful for the opportunity to have something like this on our campus.

“The value surrounding tomorrow evening is that Career Athletes focuses on national employers and organizations, understanding that our student-athletes come from all different areas. Tomorrow isn’t just geared toward the local community, though we were offered the opportunity to reach out to local vendors and employers, so we will have local businesses in attendance as well.”

In addition to networking with potential employers, WVU student-athletes will be afforded the opportunity to develop a unique skill set that will help them land a job and/or internship upon graduation. Hands on, in-person interaction highlight each Career Forum event, with five applicable instructions stressed: career message, employer panel, roundtable discussions, speed networking and a career networking event.

“Tomorrow evening isn’t only about securing a potential job or internship with the businesses in attendance – it’s also about providing the student-athletes with skills that will translate to all different kinds of employment opportunities,” explains Cunningham. “For the student-athletes in attendance that may be geared toward a direction that isn’t represented by an employer, they’re still going to gain a lot of value in what they learn throughout the night.”

In an effort to best prepare the WVU student-athletes for tomorrow’s Career Forum, career counselors from the WVU Career Services Center held mini-workshops throughout the fall semester. Instruction included resume building and tips on getting the most out of a career forum.

The Career Forum is open to all WVU student-athletes, with required attendance from upperclassmen.

Career Athletes is an online community that aides in the connection between current and past college student-athletes. The network helps members advance their careers and get jobs through networking with each other and employers who want to hire them because of the traits and dedication it took to be a student and an athlete.